Open Inner West Festival

A retired business owner, my passions are cooking, photography and eating. I use all three of these when I write for recipeyum.com.au which is on HubGarden

Event: 15/06/2018 - 24/06/2018

This is a stunning line-up of events with fantastic food

Open Inner West will be on from Friday 15th to Sunday 24th June, 2018. This event will be over 10 days, 24 suburbs, and 69 cultures across the inner west!

You will be able to mix with diverse communities from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, established and newly arrived refugee groups who have come up with a number of different ways to share their culture with you, and more.

There will be dance workshops with the Gamarada Boys and an exhibition opening night at Boomalli (the official launch of the festival). Also, there will be fabulous cooking classes with new communities, as well as hip-hop performances and break dancing battles exploring young people's cultural identity.

The festival will finish officially at the Refugee Welcome Centre in Callan Park, with the New Beginnings Festival for Refugee Week.

The following are some of the events that will be available during this festival:

Play Bouzouki Yia Mas - this is a celebration of Greek music over the millennia. The event combines three parts: a presentation by Costa Vasili, the acclaimed Greek Australian bouzouki player and author; a live bouzouki performance by Maki and Tom accompanied by traditional dancing from children of the local Greek dancing school; and a complimentary light lunch including Greek delicacies.

This will be on 21st June, at St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Hall, 207 Livingstone Road, Marrickville.

The 4th Balkan Bonanza - this is a feast for all the senses featuring music, dance, food and culture from all over the Balkans. There will be live music from the Sydney based band Balkanski Bus. Groups from all over Sydney will also perform breathtaking sequences in traditional costumes.

This will be on 16th June, at the Marrickville Town Hall, 303 Marrickville Road.

Arrial do BRACCA (one of Sydney's largest Brazilian festivals)

This will be on Sunday 24th June, from 10 am to 8 pm and it will be held at 100 Marrickville Road, Marrickville.

In 2018, the festival returns to the Sydney Portuguese Club and celebrates the multicultural diversity between the Lusophone communities. There will be typical Brazilian food; 5 exclusive areas for kids activities; traditional music Forró Universitário, Pé de Serra and Sertanejo; cultural Mix Area: dance, performances, art exhibition and bands.

Pachamama Festival and Rhythms Colours - you can see more about this in my article here.

Biryani & Babez - 2 Boys in Saris and their queer family present a night of delicious food, and side-splitting performances by some of the most shameless and "sassiest brown queens, kings and non-binary royalty from Sydney".

The Inner West Festival will open with First Cultures, Land, Culture, Life at Boomalli Aboriginal Art Gallery in Leichhardt. There will be performances by dancer, Terry Olsen and didgeridoo player, Gumaroy Newman, with local students.

The show starts at 5 pm and although this is a FREE event, you can get your tickets here.

There will be so much to do and interact with here, so you will definitely not be disappointed. You can find out more, as well as see the full programme at their website.

Activities are organised by local community groups, schools and community organisations, with support from the council through a grants programme.

Open Inner West takes place annually in June in a variety of locations across the Inner West Council area. For more details, please contact Council's Community Cultural Development Officer via email raffaela.cavadini@innerwest.nsw.gov.au

This is a huge all-round event that is suitable for all ages and has so much diverse entertainment that it would be a shame to miss seeing at least some of the events!